Generation X
by Zaratan
Summary: Following the lives of the students at Xavier's, their laughs, their loves, their struggles. Takes place after the first movie, and carries on through the second. Will be very ongoing!
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes – I was going through my fan fiction folder, sorting my Kim Possible series, when I noticed some of my old fanfics. I wrote this many years ago, about a week after the first X-men movie came out but never posted it. After re-reading it, it still sounded quite good, a huge shocker to me, so I decided, what the hell, I'll post it and see what happens. A couple of minor tweaks, not even to this chapter, and the story looks good to go! Takes place after the first movie, and I'll tie in the second movie as well when I get to that point. Very much an on-going series!

Summary – The students of the Xavier School. Not always the focus, but they'll occupy the majority of the stories. 'Nuff said!

Disclaimer – Not mine, don't sue. I am weak and pathetic with no money to speak of. Of course, if you want to hire me for my writing skills, then I'll have POWER and I'll be rich… well… I'll have money at least. :-)

My 2 cents – I hate the Logan/Rogue romance stories! I hate them! Logan in the movie was a father figure and friend to Rogue, not a lover. She should be with someone her own age! Possibly someone like Bobby or, since he's a teen in my fic, Remy.

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Generation X – Chapter 1

"PRYDE"

"Oops, sorry Bobby!"

Kitty slowly started to back out of the room she had just phased into, giggling as Bobby sought to cover himself. She had planned to let Bobby know that the gang was going into town to catch a movie, not realizing he was in the middle of changing. When you can walk through walls, you tend to forget to knock sometimes.

Bobby scrambled frantically, gathering the clothes he had been planning to wear off the floor. Rather hastily he threw a pair of jeans on, the only time he slowed down was when doing up the zipper. When Bobby figured he had sufficiently covered himself, he turned back to Kitty. "So what did you want?" his tone a little angry.

"Well, we were wondering if you wanted to catch a movie with the rest of us. We're trying to get Rogue out of her brooding."

With the mention of Rogue, Bobby perked right up. The gang, and especially himself, had been trying to cheer her up all week, ever since Logan, the bad-ass Wolverine, had left to search for his past. At least, that's what Rogue had told him. "Uhh… sure… let me finish getting dressed."

"We'll be downstairs." With a wave and a smile, she phased back out. She floated downstairs and ran into Jubilee. She had a huge smile plastered on her face.

"So… did you see Bobby?"

Kitty could tell Jubes was ready to break out into laughter. "You knew he just got out of the shower, didn't you!"

"Well…" Jubilee said, suppressing the laughter that was threatening to burst free, "that should teach you to knock more often."

Giving her a shot in the arm, Kitty started towards the garage, where their ride was stored.

"So, did we get free reign tonight, or are we being… escorted?"

"Do you really think we would get free reign, especially after what happened last time. Since Ms. Grey is going with the Professor to that conference in New York and Ms. Munroe had tickets to Cats, Mr. Summers will be taking us."

"We're stuck with Mr. Summers? Damn!"

"That's not so bad," Kitty said, a grin creasing her face.

"Not for you. Everyone knows you have that crush on him."

This time, Jubilee avoided the shot Kitty sent her way. "I do NOT have a crush on Sco… Mr. Summers! I just don't think he's anywhere near as bad as everyone else thinks."

"OK, OK, I believe you."

That grin on Jubilee's face seemed to have gotten even bigger, if such a thing was possible. Finally, they got to the garage, where the others were waiting. Scott stood there with the van door open. "All right kids, let's get this show on the road! Where's Bobby?"

Jubilee started giggling again. "I think Kitty said he's getting dressed." At that, Jubilee jumped into the van before the wrath of Katherine Pryde could be invoked yet again.

Scott just raised an eyebrow and looked at Kitty.

"I… ahh… kinda…"

"Forgot to knock again?"

"Yes, sir."

Inside, Scott was trying damn hard not to smile, but when dealing with a student, he felt it was always best to maintain a stern manner. "We'll have to talk about that later, Kitty. Now, you better hop in."

Bobby came bursting through the door at just that moment. He dove right past Scott and landed on the seat. Unfortunately, it was occupied by Remy at the time.

"Bobby, you t'ink you get out of my lap now?"

Blushing a bright shade of crimson, he pulled himself off and looked up at Marie, who was trying very hard to hide her smile. He quickly moved to the far back seat, the only seat available, which, to his chagrin, was right next to Kitty.

Kitty looked up, smiling lightly up at Bobby. "Uhh… sorry about walking in on you like that."

Bobby smiled back, "It's alright. I'm sorry I yelled. It's just, you kinda caught me by surprise."

With a slam of the door, Scott got behind the wheel, turned the key, and pulled off down the driveway.

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"You should have seen the look on Kitty's face when she came out of Bobby's room! Her face was so red, it could have lit up the room!"

John smiled at the image. "I think I would have preferred to see Bobby's face, when Kitty popped in unexpectedly!" This set both Jubilee and John laughing again.

Bobby leaned forward, "I'm glad you enjoyed the little joke. You do know I'm going to get you both back, don't you?"

"You can try, Frosty," laughed John.

Remy and Rogue turned around to chat better with the others. "So chere," asked Remy, a smirk on his face, "how much of the 'ol Bobby did you see?"

Kitty put down her book, and keeping a serious look on her face, said, "A lot more than I saw when I walked in on Johnny last week!" With that, she turned back to her book.

Scott Summers and Sam Guthrie, both sitting in the front, were trying their damnedest not to laugh as Johnny protested vehemently.

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With a slight bump, the van pulled into the theatre parking lot. Scott stopped in the closest available parking spot, and all the students piled out. It was a free for all as they all rushed to the doors, all except Rogue, who walked with Scott.

"Don't you want to catch up to the others, Rogue?"

"No, that's okay."

Scott looked down at his young charge, "You do know, they just want to help you fit in at the school."

"I know. It's just…"

"You miss Logan."

"It's not just that, it's… it's hard to feel close when you can't touch anyone, you know? I mean, I can't hold hands without gloves on. I'm afraid to play sports in case I accidentally touch someone. I just feel a little… isolated."

"You may not believe this, but I do understand what you're going through. But friendship is more than just being able to touch. It's about opening up your heart to the world around you, even if you can't touch it. For the longest time, I was afraid to reach out, because of what my powers could do. When my powers first appeared, I kinda blew the roof off my old school. For weeks, before the professor found me, I had to live my life in the dark, afraid of what might happen if I opened my eyes the slightest crack. Even when I got my special glasses, I tried to isolate myself, because I didn't want to accidentally hurt anyone. But, eventually, I opened up."

"How did you do that?"

With a smile, Scott turned to Rogue, "Well, I think meeting Jean… Ms. Grey, helped a lot. She would just sit with me, at first, and try to get me to talk to her. She helped get me interested in living again, in being a part of the world around me. She didn't stop until I opened up. It was shortly after that that we started going out. I wasn't much younger than you at the time."

Rogue looked up with a slight smile on her face, "Thanks, Mr. Summers."

"You can call me Scott."

With that, Rogue ran to catch up with the others.

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"I love the graphics in this movie!" John could barely sit still, as the dragons on the screen were battling. Each explosion, each battle, would be cause enough to cheer.

"Flamehead," a very annoyed Jubilee yelled, "would you just sit down and watch the movie. If I had known you were gonna be this way, I would have gone to see another movie. At least then, I could hear what the hell was going on!"

An explosion on screen caused another cheer, which Bobby joined in on, since he knew now it was annoying Jubilee. The action on screen was heating up. Another explosion sounded! Only problem was, it didn't come from the screen. It came from outside!

"What the…stay here!" Scott jumped from his seat and turned to the exit. He was the first out the door. The students turned to follow, but were caught up in the mob of people rushing to the exit. When they finally got outside, they were able to survey the scene. A woman, who seemed to be flying, was battling some gigantic robot. The thing stood 20 feet tall! They could see Scott, Cyclops when in action, rush through the crowd to help. When the woman dodged a blow from the huge monstrosity, Cyclops let loose. Removing his glasses, he gave the thing an eyeful, which in his case meant a great beam of force shooting from his eyes. The thing staggered but remained intact.

"What…?"

The machine turned, and fired a missile from it's hand. It impacted on the ground in front of Cyclops, sending a shower of concrete into his face, throwing him back. When he landed, he just lay there, not moving.

"NNNNOOOOOOOO!"

With a yell, the students joined the fray. Sam shot into the air, and plowed into the thing. It staggered and fell, but shot up an instant later. Bobby coated the thing's legs in ice, while Jubilee, Remy and John fired at the thing from a distance. It was being slowed down, but was not stopping.

Rogue, with no way to help her friends, started pushing the crowd back. "Please, you have to run, get away from here!" With the appearance of eight new mutants on the scene, the crowd happily complied, scattering into buildings or further down the street in an attempt to get away.

The battle was raging at this point, with explosions and fire shooting off everywhere. The woman and Sam kept diving in to take shots, while the others pounded away with their powers. Rogue had finished clearing away the last of the onlookers when she ran into Kitty.

"I'm going to try and disrupt its circuitry. You stay here, where it's safe!" Kitty turned and charged into the battle. Kitty, aside from the ability to phase her molecular structure through that of solid matter, could also disrupt any electronic systems she passed through. The robot fired a missile at her, thinking her an easy target. She phased right through it, and it exploded on the ground behind her. She dove at the thing and phased right through it. Coming out on the other side, she turned to look at her handiwork. Sparks started shooting from the torso, where she had phased through. It started to spasm and jerk wildly as the disruption to its circuitry reached its head. Missiles started to fire from it, as the circuitry that controlled them went haywire. One missile struck the ground in front of Bobby and John, and they flew backward. Another struck the mystery woman directly, and she flew back, crashing into Rogue. They both fell, and lay still. Finally, the machine fell, and stopped moving.

"Oh God, what have I done?" Kitty was hysterical. She hadn't wanted that to happen. "Jubilee, check Scott! Sam, check Bobby and John! Remy, help me with Rogue and that other woman!" With one last look at the thing that had caused so much damage, they sprang into action.

Scott was already coming to, as were Bobby and John, but Rogue and the strange woman still hadn't moved. Kitty bent down to lift the woman off Rogue when she noticed something. The woman's veins were bulged out. It was an affect Kitty had seen only once before, when Rogue had had to drain the healing ability from Wolverine to save her life. "Oh no…" Kitty checked for the woman's pulse, but couldn't find one. She looked over at Rogue, and noticed the tear in her shirt, where the woman had made contact with Rogue's skin. "Oh God… no…"


	2. Chapter 2

Not mine, don't sue. I am weak and pathetic with no money to speak of. Of course, if you want to hire me for my writing skills, then I'll have POWER and I'll be rich… well… I'll have money at least.

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Generation X – Chapter 2

The rest of the X-men arrived shortly after. Kitty didn't even notice the plane touching down in the parking lot behind her. She just stared down at the strange woman. She looked up when Jean placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be alright, Kitty,"

Remy picked up Rogue and carried her to the jet. Jean bent to pick up the woman, but Kitty stopped her.

"I'll carry her."

She looked up at Jean, and could see the heartache in the woman's eyes. She turned back, and, lifting as gently as she could, picked the woman up, cradling the body in her arms, looking down into those lifeless eyes staring back at her. Slowly, she stood, and walked to the jet. The sound of fast-approaching sirens sounded in the distance as the X-men's jet took off.

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Hours later, after everyone had been taken down to the medical lab and checked out, Kitty found herself sitting up on the roof. She hadn't even realized where she was going until she had gotten up there. The only thing that had been running through her mind since the whole incident began was, _It's my fault! I caused the robot to go nuts! It was my fault Rogue and Bobby and John had been hurt, and that woman was lying dead now!_

So engrossed in her own thoughts, she never noticed Scott had come up to the roof and had sat down beside her. She jumped when his hand touched her shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Kitty. There was no…"

"Yes it was my fault!" Tears, finally released, started pouring down her face. She jumped to her feet and glared down at Scott. "I know what my powers can do, and it's my fault everyone got hurt! It's my fault that woman is dead!" Finally, she could not control the rush of tears, and sank back down. Scott wrapped an arm around her, and let her cry into his shoulder. Finally, she settled down enough for Scott to talk again.

"You did what you had to do, the only way you could. If you hadn't stopped it, it might have killed even more people. You can't control every thing that happens in the world, you can only do the best you can. It'll be hard, to stop feeling guilty about what happened, but you can't blame yourself." Scott gave her one last hug. "Come on downstairs and get something to eat with the others. Bobby and John are already bragging about who will get the biggest scar."

Kitty smiled softly at that and rose to her feet. "Thanks, Sco… I mean, Mr. Summers." Hiding a sheepish grin, she blushed heavily.

"It's alright. You can call me Scott if you want to, at least outside of class." Scott bent down to open the door to get back inside. "Now, you better hurry before Jubilee polishes off all that ice cream!" he turned, and saw Kitty had already phased through the roof. Smiling, Scott climbed down. On his way to the kitchen, to supervise the feeding frenzy, he ran into the Professor.

"How's Marie, Professor?"

"She'll be fine, Scott. She banged her head when she got hit, but she'll recover. I'm more worried about the psychological damage. Besides what appears to be a complete psychological and power transference, I'm worried about the damage this will do to her self-esteem. She was frightened about her powers when she had only drained people temporarily. How will she react to the fact that her powers, however unintentionally, have caused the death of someone?"

"I don't know. She was just starting to get comfortable and now this!" Scott paused briefly. "Have you been able to identify the woman, Professor?"

"Yes. Her name was Carol Danvers."

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"Where am I? What happened?"

"Please, Rogue, settle down," Jean pleaded, trying to get the young girl to lie back down. "You're just a little confused."

"Ms. Grey, what's going on? What am ah doing down here in the med lab?"

Jean turned briefly to check the monitors, pausing before answering the question posed to her. "There was… an accident. When Katherine phased through the machine, it went haywire. The woman it was attacking was struck directly, and she crashed into you."

"Oh God, is she all right?"

Jean paused again. "I'm… afraid not. She… came in contact with your skin, and we weren't able to reach her in time. I'm afraid she didn't make it."

A look of shock crossed Rogue's face at the news. "But, I don't feel any different! I feel the same as before! I don't have any other memories floating in my head, not like with Logan and Erik!"

"Are you sure?" Turning to the EKG monitor, a worried expression crossed her face. "I'm reading some unusual activity, are you sure you don't feel any differently?"

"I'm sure!"

"I too don't feel any change in Rogue," stated the Professor, as the doors to the lab opened to admit him. Wheeling himself to Rogue's bedside, he placed an arm gently on Rogue's. "I'm not sure a transference took place. When she absorbed Logan and Magneto, I could sense clearly the other memories and behaviors in Rogue. But now, nothing. Strange."

"Do you think I could go see how the others are doing?"

Taking one last look at the chart, Jean nodded. "I don't see why not, but if you feel anything strange, I want you back here for more tests, understood?"

"I understand!"

"I think you'll find them in the kitchen. I believe the feeding frenzy has begun," laughed the Professor, as he followed his young charge out the door.

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As Kitty entered the kitchen, she saw the feeding frenzy in full bloom. Jubilee had indeed raided the ice cream, and sat hunkered down with a large spoon and a quart of rocky road. She kept smacking John's hand every time he tried to dip his spoon in for some. Bobby sat across the table with a bag of chips, snacking happily away. Sam and Remy were busy rooting in the fridge, going through the leftovers from supper, trying to decide what to grab.

"Hey, Kitkat, pull up a chair," Jubilee motioned to the other chair beside her. "You can help me finish this off!"

Kitty smiled back, and sat down. "Do you have an extra spoon?"

Jubilee looked around and then smiled. She turned to John with the most concerned look she could muster. "Hey, John, the stitches on your arm are torn."

John quickly turned to look at his arm. "I better get down to the infi… HEY!" John yelled, as Jubilee yanked the spoon from his hand and gave it to Kitty.

"Here you go." Jubilee was smiling, and despite her mood, Kitty had to laugh.

"So, KitKat, how are you doing?" Jubilee asked, concern etched across her face. Jubilee only called her KitKat when she was worried.

"I'm fine, Jubes, really, "she said, shoving the ice cream laden spoon into her mouth.

Bobby leaned in. "It's not your fault you know! If you hadn't taken that thing out, it might have actually hit us with one of those missiles it was firing."

"I know! I know! Can we just drop it, please?" Kitty paused to take anouther bite. "So… umm… how's Rogue?"

"De Prof said that she would be fine. She hadn't woken up yet though. He was just goin' down to check on her."

Kitty started to get up. "Maybe I should go and see if I can help."

Jubilee pulled her right back down. "There's nothing you can do that the Professor and Ms. Grey can't do. Just… relax and hang."

"She's right Kitty. Eat up, before she downs all that ice cream on you," laughed Scott, as he entered the room. "You should be honored, I've never seen her share her rocky road, especially when it's the last till Monday. So have you guys cleaned out the fridge, or did you leave some for me?"

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"Well, look who's up and about!"

Everyone turned and saw Rogue standing there with the Professor and Ms. Grey.

Rogue smiled when she saw all the faces happy to see her. It had been a long time since she had seen that, but ever since coming here, that's been almost all she saw. It was a little strange to get used to again. The smile stayed on her face as she saw Jubes with the rocky road and a jumbo soupspoon. "Any left for me, Jubes, or did you down it all in the first five minutes?"

Everyone started to laugh at that. "Hey, I saved you some… I guess there's some at the bottom. You know, Mr. Summers, we wouldn't have this problem if you bought more of this and less of… say… broccoli! Just because you like it shouldn't mean the rest of us have to suffer!"

"Well, I… Rogue, are you all right?"

Rogue was clutching her head in obvious pain. "Where… where am I? Who are you?"

Looks of concern flashed over the faces of all those around the table. Jubilee was the first to speak. "Rogue, we're your friends. What's wr…"

"I don't know you! Where am I? If I don't get some answers, I'm going to force some answers from you!" With that, Rogue grabbed the lapels of Jubilee's jacket, and pulled the young woman towards her.

That was more than enough to cause the Professor to act. With a simple thought and a grimace, Rogue collapsed to the floor.

"Professor?"

"It's all right Jubilee. I just put her to sleep. It's most unusual. One moment, she was Rogue, the next, an entirely new mind took control. I'm afraid that what may have happened wasn't so much of an absorption of the young woman, as a total transference of her mind into Rogue's. We'll need to run some more tests to find out. Jean, see if you can get Hank and Betsy in to help. I think we'll need them!" With that, Xavier picked up his young charge, and headed for the infirmary. Jean and Scott headed for her office, leaving the kids of Mutant High with a bevy of mixed emotions and churning fears.

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Author's Notes – This won't be as updated as frequently as my other series, mainly because I really need to get the story into my mind as to where it's going. It has been years since I wrote the first 3 parts!

I'd like to thank the following for their reviews;

mattb3671 – Glad you liked it! Forgot some of my regulars (can you have regulars after a month?) liked X-men as well. And as you can see, right on the nose! And I like Scott, he's a great guy!

Audny – I'm a big fan of the comics as well, and like to incorporate certain things into a story. Carol Danvers is one of them. Now, the big question will become, if she absorbed Carol's abilities here, why doesn't she have them in the second movie? That will be explained soon!

HottDarkPrincess – Glad you enjoyed!


	3. Chapter 3

Not mine, don't sue. I am weak and pathetic with no money to speak of. Of course, if you want to hire me for my writing skills, then I'll have POWER and I'll be rich… well… I'll have money at least. Also, this is the last of what I had worked on previously. I have no idea where I was going with it, but I should be able to find my muse well enough, I gave myself enough plot threads!

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Generation X – Chapter 3

"Thanks Hank, we could really use your help. Bye!" Hanging up the phone, Jean turned to her fiancée, face grim. "Hank will be here within a couple of hours. Betsy won't be here till the morning. That's the earliest flight they can catch."

"They?"

"Yes, Warren is coming as well. And you will get along with him, at least until Rogue is better. Considering the situation, that poor girl doesn't need any more stress."

"All right, but if he starts anything first…"

"No Scott, nothing! Got it!"

A sheepish grin crosses Scott's face. "Yes, ma'am!" The grin doesn't last though. "So, do you think they'll be able to help?

"I hope so. I don't know what else I can do right now."

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Hours later, Jean still hadn't found anything that could help. Rogue lay on the table, still unconscious. Just as she was about to call the Professor, he entered the medical lab, followed by Dr. Hank McCoy. At that, she breathed a sigh of relief. Hank was one of the most accomplished individuals she had ever met, with degrees in medicine, physics, and chemistry. Despite the fact he was obviously a mutant, weighing 400 pounds with blue fur being a dead giveaway, he was one of the most influential people in the world when it came to matters of science. His opinion was one of the most sought after, and the fact that he had been one of the Professor's first students, and a good friend, had helped the school get so much of the funding and prestige it did. Her and Hank, with the Professor, should be able to get to the bottom of this. They would find a solution in no time. "Hey, Hank. Sorry to call you away from your conference in Boston," she said with a slight grin. The situation was too much for anything more than that.

"Hello Jean. I got your notes and test results while on the plane. I must say, they were most unusual. Have you been able to isolate how her powers work yet?"

Down to business right away I guess. "Not yet, but we're still waiting on the DNA analysis. Medical science may have come far in the years since mapping the genome, but it still takes a quite a while to fully analyze an individual's DNA code. I don't expect the results for a couple more days." With that, Jean got up to get Hank some gloves. His were stored in the back of the storage locker, and were designed specifically for him. After all, when your hands are twice normal size with a couple inches of blue fur on the backs of them, normal gloves just don't cut it. Jean wondered how Hank could operate with hands like that, but he was so dexterous, the size of his hands never became an issue. Pulling them out, she handed them to Hank, who promptly put them on, and turned to his patient.

"So, in essence, she's a touch telepath, but more?"

Jean put her gloves on as well, and went to the other side of the bed. "That's right. But, instead of just reading a person, she absorbs them, their memories, their personalities, even a mutant's powers. We first saw it her first night with us. Logan, the man who had helped her, had woken… badly, and she had to touch Logan to borrow his healing abilities. The effect was temporary. Again, her powers were exploited by Magneto atop the Statue. I don't know how much that affected her, because shortly after, to save her life, Logan touched her again. It seems, the longer the contact, the more is absorbed, and the longer the duration of the absorption. Logan was laid up for days the second time, and there were a couple of times I thought we would lose him. In this case, by reports from Kitty, Ms. Danvers was in contact with Rogue for over a minute. Nothing could be done to save her. Rogue initially didn't show any signs of having absorbed a new personality, but later, a completely new personality took control."

"It was as if Rogue had switched places with someone in an instant," the Professor added. "One minute she was having a conversation, and the next, it seemed someone else was there. I'm still having trouble reading her, it's like the two personalities are warring for control."

Jean stepped back in at that point. "Rogue also still has possession of Ms. Danver's powers. The invulnerability in particular is interfering with our ability to treat her." To prove her point, Jean picked up a needle and attempted, yet again, to draw a blood sample. The needle pushed down the skin, but failed to break the skin.

"Interesting."

"I don't think we will be able to help her with this physically," the Professor jumping back in. "That's why I asked Jean to call Betsy in from London."

Hank protested immediately. "You can't be thinking of doing what I think you're planning. You know how dangerous it is to go that deep into the psyche of a person, you risk the life of the patient, your life, and the life of any who take part in this. I can't…"

"Hank, it's the only chance this young woman has! It will be fine. Jean will serve as an anchor for myself and Betsy, while you make sure our physical bodies survive."

"Just because it's her only chance doesn't mean I have to like it, but we'll do it your way."

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"What do you want to do?"

"I'm going to find out where the hell that thing came from, and I want your help!" Kitty stated determinedly!

The rest of the group just looked at her in shock. Finally, Jubilee spoke up. "Fine, but how do you expect us to get out of here. The mansion is on alert!"

Kitty just smiled. "Ms. Monroe is still in New York, and the others are all helping Rogue. The only one who could catch us would be Mr. Summers, and all we need to do is set up a distraction. I don't care what it takes, I want to find out who sent that bloody thing, and take them DOWN!"

"All right, all right, we're with you. So what do we do?"

"I've already arranged for some of the younger kids to set up a ruckus in about five minutes. We just head right for the garage and bail as quick as we can before Mr. Summers can nail us."

At this,Remy spoke up. "You do know, chere, this is crazy?"

"Remy, no one has even asked where that thing came from. I intend to find out! I wanna… damn, they're early, let's go!" Noises echoed down from the third floor, where Xavier Institute's youngest students roomed. Poking her head through the door, Kitty looked left and saw Scott climb the steps to the third floor at a frantic pace. Everything was going as planned! She popped her head back in. "All clear, let's go!"

Opening the door quietly, not chancing anyone hearing them, the eldest students of the Xavier school headed down to the garage. Once down on the main floor, they moved at a breakneck pace, grabbing what they would need. Kitty grabbed her laptop, while the others grabbed supplies, and various other things. It only took a couple of minutes, but it seemed like an eternity to the youths trying so desperately to stay quiet, while grabbing all they needed. When everything they needed was on hand, and a few things probably not, they gathered in the garage.

"Jubes, pass me the keys to the van."

"Ahhh… Kitty… the keys are gone!"

"Gone? What do you mean gone? Where could they be?"

"Looking for these?"

Standing in the doorway was Scott Summers.

All the students stared in stunned silence. Jubilee, as usual, was the first to respond. "Aww damn, we're busted!"

Scott slowly walked into the room, looking at all the students. Finally settling his gaze on Kitty, he asked, "So where do you think your all going?"

Kitty had to take a moment to work up the courage to speak. Finally, she said, "Well, Mr. Summers, we were just… I mean…"

"You were going to check and see if you could find any evidence as to where that machine came from, weren't you?"

A chorus of quiet yes sirs issued from the students.

"Well, you're not going!"

"But… but…"

"Not without me, anyways. We better hurry, or there might not be anything left to find"

A smile creased the faces of every single one of them. Quickly, they all piled into the van, and headed out.

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It had started to rain lightly by the time Scott pulled the van up to the movie theatre parking lot. Everything was quiet in this part of town, at least it was at 2 in the morning. Scott pulled a fair distance away from where the thing had struck, and killed the engine.

"OK, guys, the police have already removed everything they could find, and taken it back to the station. The Professor has already secured us a chance to investigate it. Kitty and Bobby will be coming with me. I may need your help decrypting any files that are still active. The rest of you, scour the area, find anything that may give us a clue as to where this thing came from. Don't discount anything! Got it?"

"Sir, yes Sir Cyclops Sir!" barked Jubilee, who tried desperately to keep a straight face. This caused some quiet laughter in the back, not enough to destroy the seriousness of the situation, but enough to break the immediate tension. They started piling out of the van, and set about snagging everything they could find.

Scott pulled out and headed to the police station. "Kitty, Bobby, we'll have the more difficult job. The Professor has some connection in the local force, but we'll still need to present a cover story. It should hold up. If you need to address me, I'll be Agent Matthews, of the FBI. You can use your real names, or make something up. You'll be trainees getting some field experience so you won't be looked at too intensely."

"But Sir, how are we going to be able to pass ourselves off as FBI?" Bobby asked, trying desperately to straighten his shirt.

"I've used this cover before, and the identity has been placed in the FBI database. I'm not officially an agent, but every check they run should make them think I am."

Now it was Kitty's turn to ask, "How'd you manage to pull that off. I thought the FBI database was impregnable?"

"It is, but, like I said, the Professor has lots of friends!"

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"I can't believe we got stuck out here in the rain, trying to find friggin scraps, while Kitty and Bobby get to stay warm and dry down at the copshop!" Jubilee was getting so sick of tired of digging through garbage heaps; you never notice how much garbage is on the streets until you have to look through it all. You'd think people had never heard of a garbage can. "Johnny, you find anything yet?"

"I think I did! At least, it doesn't look like it belongs on a car. It's also got some kind of serial number on it… I can't quite make it out."

"Well, let's get it to the others, maybe they've found something by now."

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"Hey Sean, I'm glad you're here!"

"Ah heard what happened and figured ah should be the one to meet ya here. We don't want any problems, now do we?"

"Thanks Sean. Even in a matter of importance like this, I hate lying. I take it the thing is in the garage?"

"Where else were they gonna put the bloody thing, laddie? The blasted thing is 20 feet long!"

Kitty and Bobby trailed behind, sharing confused looks at each other. As if sensing their confusion, Scott started to explain. "Sean is a friend of ours from a ways back. He used to be a cop in Dublin when the Professor asked him to help us here. He's been a member of the Salem Center police force for about six years."

"So, you know we're all mutants?"

Sean laughed lightly before he could answer Bobby's question. "Laddie, ah'm a mutant too, ya know! Ah just didn't need the trainin' Scotty, O, and Jeanie did. And as ah doubt ah could help a lick as a teacher, ah offered to help the best way ah could, by joining the police force here and help keep the school a secret as best ah can! Ah, here we go."

Opening the door to the garage, and flicking the light switch, both students and teacher looked in awe at the behemoth before them. Even inactive, the thing looked deadly. Painted a metallic black, no doubt to assist in stealth, it presented an imposing figure. It looked to have the strength to crush an individual on the basis of sheer power alone. Then the missiles it projected from its arms, added to the feeling of lethality it projected. Kitty and Bobby couldn't help but pause before approaching the thing that had already claimed on life tonight, and possibly a second, if the Professor could not help Rogue.

Scott approached the thing and, opening the briefcase the two students hadn't even noticed, pulled out a laptop computer, and set about running connectors to the thing's head. Kitty snapped out of her daze, and set about helping. "OK, Kitty, I need you to try and interface with this thing, just to retrieve what you can of its core program. Bobby, she might need your help in interpreting some of the data. Sean and I are going to try and find any clues as to its origin physically. Maybe its creator was nice enough to put the company logo on it somewhere. Let's get to work!"

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Author's Notes - Will they be able to find who's responsible? What is this procedure that could risk all their lives? Stay tuned!

I'd like to thank the following for their reviews;

mattb3671 – Yeah, I remember I was planning on playing off a lot of different relationship angles after the first arch of the story. Hope I can still pull it off!

Audny - Glad you are enjoying!


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